Charlotte man hopes to find more answers to cancer by raising money, running in the Boston Marathon

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte runner Matt Nolan has become an advocate after the passing of his mother due to her battle with cancer. 

“There’s this feeling of helplessness when cancer’s involved in the family,” he told WCNC Charlotte. “I started thinking, ‘what were things I could do,’ and there was so little that I really could do with that, but this was a thing that I thought I could do.”

“Mom’s battle with pancreatic cancer finished—we had to say goodbye to her,” he continued, “but at that point, I didn’t want to just declare victory on my fundraising goal and say ‘okay, now I’m good, now I can go do this.”  

Nolan has been running for the past 13 years and says he never considered taking up the hobby seriously. 

“I have never run a marathon. I figured if I was going to run a marathon, I might as well run the marathon,” he said. “Got some conversations going and was accepted onto a team to be able to fundraise for this year’s Boston Marathon.”  

What was once a lighthearted activity is now Nolan’s mission to help others in their fight. His initial goal was $30,000, but he’s already at more than $125,000.  

“I increased the goal to $130,000—which is a wild number for me to even say out loud. But the Boston Marathon has been run, this will be the 130th time, so I figured that was a reason, and let’s go see how much of that we can get done,” he said. “This morning, we passed $125,000 dollars, and there’s still over two months to the marathon.”  

Nolan says members of the Charlotte community, friends, and family throughout the nation, and even those he knows from his time living overseas, have contributed. That’s something that Nolan’s local run club friends are proud of. 

“He’s very passionate about what he does, or whatever he does, said Rico Marcelo, who founded the Barn Burners Run Club. “He gives out a great energy, and people can see that.”

Marcelo says community, no matter the race you’re running, is key. 

“The running mindset is about just showing up, showing up for the community. Being together and in a battle, like with cancer, it’s about support and the team that you have around you and the people who love you, who support you, and I feel like those two things are very similar,” he said. 

To learn more about how to donate and support Nolan’s cause for cancer research, visit this link.

Contact Bria Smith at bsmith6@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

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